How can government schools compete with the private schools?

Byline: Shoaib Turk

Private sector schools have seen explosive growth and phenomenal financial success in the last three decades in Pakistan. Attitudes of general public are mixed and at times paradoxical towards this mushroom growth of private sector education. People are wary of ever growing costs of getting an education for their children at a private school, while at the same time not opting for the government run schools which provide not only free education but free text books as well.

Over the years parents have lost trust in government run schools, according to the now defunct organization Alif ailan that did amazing work for education in Pakistan, 69% parents wanted to send their children to private school because they thought that private schools provided better facilities, better learning outcomes, and high quality English medium education in addition to better care for child welfare.

According to the same report number of students enrolled in private school increased from 26% in 2003 to 38% in 2014, number of children enrolled in private schools can be as high as 42% in 2019 according to an estimate.

These statistics speak volumes about dwindling trust in government run schools as well as lack of investment in public education on the part of the government. It is time to ponder over as to what has gone wrong over the years on the part of the government that made private sector responsible for the education of almost half of nation's children. There are three questions that merit our attention and require answers.

What caused the people to lose trust and confidence in the government run schools?

What is the problem with private sector replacing government sector in education at such a

massive scale?

Does this situation need to be changed? If yes, how?

Addressing the first question, in the year 2019 the private sector in education has assumed the role of the proverbial camel in the Arab's tent, because now it is serving just under half of Pakistani children (a whopping 42% of nation's children), selling something to them that the government offered for free.

Something which is a constitutional right of every Pakistani child is now being sold to him and parents are forced to pay for fundamental this right, the right to education.

The reason why parents are forced to opt for private schools to educate their children can be summed up in this single sentence; the government hasn't increased its investment in building new schools...

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